YOUNG CYCLOPS IN SPACE: Marvel Talks GREG RUCKA's New Ongoing Series

The founding X-Men known as Cyclops has been many things: hero, leader, rebel, villain, father. But there’s one thing he’s never been – a solo star – until now.

Earlier this week Marvel announced that in May they are launching Cyclops, an ongoing series by Greg Rucka and Russell Dauterman spinning out of All-New X-Men which will see the teenage Scott Summers find out the father he thought has been dead since his childhood is alive and kicking, and kicking it with aliens as a space pirate. Devoted X-Men fans are just as shocked as Cyclops is, because up until this month’s All-New X-Men #23, Cyclops’ father – Corsair, aka Christopher Summers – has been dead since 2007 thanks to Cyclops’ secret half brother, Vulcan.

But now with Corsair back among the living and his teenage son Cyclops transported forward in time, it’s a chance to make up for lost time. But this father-son bonding isn’t all about learning to shave and fishing trips, because they’re in space and dad’s got a business to run – a pirate business. When asked what readers could expect when Cyclopsdebuts in May, Senior Editor Nick Lowe promised a lot.

“The usual adventure, intrigue, drama, sure, but way more importantly a look into the father/son dynamic that we don’t get to see all that often in modern comics,” Lowe tells Newsarama. “Cyclops is the story of a father and son getting a chance to get to know each other in a way they both thought was lost. Scott thought his dad was dead and Corsair never had a moment with Scott between when he was 8 and when he was in his 20’s. This is a special time. oh, and they fight aliens and such.”

They’re already facing down the forces of the Shi’ar in the opening act of “the Trial of Jean Grey” crossover in All-New X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy, but May’s launch of Cyclops promises that the father-son duo’s adventures will feature more alien confrontations, including with the Badoon. Lowe also promises that the exact nature by which Corsair returned from the dead will also be addressed in the Cyclops series.

The origins of the Cyclops series itself came from All-New X-Men writer Brian Michael Bendis, as an outgrowth of the story he was telling in that series. Lowe says that credit also goes to Bendis for the decision to hire Greg Rucka to write the series.

“I wish I could claim it as my own, but Brian had just read Lazarus and Lady Sabre and thought he’d be perfect for the story,” Lowe reveals. “That along with the fact that Greg is the father of a teenage son and we thought he might have a good perspective on teenage Cyclops and his space pirate dad, Corsair!”

Joining Rucka to take Cyclops and company on this space adventure is Nightwing artist Russell Dauterman. According to Lowe, he met the artist during a portfolio review at Comic-Con International: San Diego several years ago and kept in touch to find the right project for him.

“Russell has made leaps and bounds in the last few years,” Lowe says, pointing to the artist’s work on Grace Randolph’s Supurbia at Boom! Studios. “But it was his cool blend of Frank Quitely, J. Scott Campbell, Steve Ditko-y goodness that came to mind for a book starring a teenager on alien planets and such.”

So it seems Cyclops has been a long time coming for Dauterman, but even longer for the book’s titular star. Since his debut in 1963, Scott Summers has been an integral leading figure in the X-Men titles and for much of that time one of the key faces of the franchise but never has the character been positioned as a solo star. When asked about the timing of Cyclops and the decades without a solo series, Lowe says it was all about finding the wright story.

“It was the story. We had the right story that felt emotionally valid and motivated it. That’s really it,” Lowe says. “And it’s just fantastic.”